Home > The Book Page > Archives > 2007 > November > 21 > Entry
World’s Worst Book Title winner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, folks, we had a squeaker in the vote for World’s Worst Book Title ever. But the Supreme Court was called in for an emergency ruling, and by a 5-4 vote they declared George Bush to be the winner.
No, wait. Wrong vote. The winner was “Cooking With Pooh,” which is a real book from Disney. It barely beat out “Letting It Go: a History of American Incontinence,” “The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification” (which I think maybe some people did not realize is also a real book) and “Everything You’ll Need to Remember About Alzheimer’s.”
It was submitted by Chris, whom I am getting in touch with so I can send him his/her reward, my personal, slightly dog-eared copy of “Bizarre Books” that started this whole thing. Plus I’ve got that new Borat book sitting on my desk and if Chris wants that, he/she’s welcome to it. Clearly, as of this posting I don’t even know if Chris is male or female. Sorry, Chris.
But congratulations for suggesting the World’s Worst Book Title.
Does anyone have any more book-related contest ideas? I’m open to suggestion.
And Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Contests
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Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By MOT
November 21, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this
Gosh darn I was close, the Shopping Cart guide was my submission. I could NOT believe when I came across it that it was a REAL book! So I submitted it.
As for other contest ideas related to books:
How many books read in a certain period of time: 1 yr. 1 month 1 wk
Non-Fiction that Sounds like Fiction
A “How-To” title contest make it real books
and a separate How-To of made up ones
A “Things I learned from….” contest once again things made up and then one for real ones.
“All You Ever Wanted to Know about” titles one for real and one for made up
“__ for Dummies” titles (one for real and one for made up)
“The Joy of” titles (both)
By Jeff
November 21, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this
I actually like the idea of a ‘books read’ type thing. I think it could be fun and enlightening.
Maybe it could be a type of New Years’ thing that you then ask us about like once a month or something Phil?
Something like:
“So its New Year’s Day and time for people to start making resolutions. How about making a resolution to read this year? Set your own goals and I’ll check back every month to see how you’re doing!” And the contest could spiral from there: Person who read the most books, person who read the most pages, person who read the most fiction, person who read the most non-fiction, etc.
Admitedly, it would be somewhat of an honor system, but we could probably ask that the people involved submit titles every month so that at least we have a record of what they say they have read.
And we could even make it a family thing. Everybody reads books on their leve, ie the 5yr old reads See Spot Run while mom is reading the latest Grisham and dad is reading the latest Robert Whitlow. (BTW: Whitlow is an author I just discovered. Finished The Sacrifice the other day and bought The Trial yesterday. He’s along the lines of a Christian fiction Grisham, and in fact his stories are more Grisham-like than Randy Singer.)
By lawyerdaggett
November 21, 2007 11:55 AM | Link to this
The Bonfire of the Vanities
By Philthesoreloser
November 21, 2007 12:05 PM | Link to this
After all this time, liberals are still acting like spoiled little children. Let the flames begin!
By Matt
November 21, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this
I like both MOT and Jeff’s ideas for book contests. Although, with the “most read” contest, it’d be hard to prove, since Amazon is just a couple of clicks away. Maybe instead of an actual contest, we could do a “What we are reading this month” blog, where we share what’s on our reading lists.
Jeff: “The List” by Robert Whitlow is also very good, just so you know.
And I mourn that my two suggestions were not sufficiently horrible to win the contest, but I enjoyed trying to come up with the titles.
By Basil
November 21, 2007 2:09 PM | Link to this
Good contest! I would like to suggest a contest of book titles followed by subtitles, where the subtitle is something that makes you smile or whatever. Here are a couple of ideas:
My Son The Admiral…Bringing Up The Rear
Probate…Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wait
Good idea for a contest?? Happy Thanksgiving.
By annie
November 21, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this
Hilarious!
By Deborah
November 21, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this
How about, “Self Esteem for Dummies”?
By G-Lib
November 21, 2007 3:25 PM | Link to this
This is a hoot. It’s quite refreshing to read a little fun nonsense after looking at the AJC blog on the sex offender ruling. Thanks!
By wayne
November 21, 2007 3:27 PM | Link to this
Wow, more crap than ever before. Almost makes me feel enlightened. ‘Scuse me while I go grab the Glock……….
By Jed
November 21, 2007 4:14 PM | Link to this
Autism: for dummies
By Ben
November 21, 2007 4:46 PM | Link to this
Ventriloquism For Dummies
By Matt
November 21, 2007 5:05 PM | Link to this
How to Steal This Book (And Get Away)
By Al
November 21, 2007 6:25 PM | Link to this
IQ Tests for Dummies
By Boingophile
November 21, 2007 6:41 PM | Link to this
Abbie Hoffman already wrote Steal this Book, Matt.
By Steve
November 21, 2007 7:29 PM | Link to this
“But the Supreme Court was called in for an emergency ruling, and by a 5-4 vote they declared George Bush to be the winner.”
Ha ha ha! Your humor’s so timely, Phil.
By J.E.Carter
November 21, 2007 7:51 PM | Link to this
Critique of pure reason, by I Kant
By JK
November 22, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this
How about “The Ultimate Guide to Dummies Books for Dummies”?
By BB
November 23, 2007 2:58 PM | Link to this
What a lame and weird way to show us your political stripes. It’s amazing what bitter old queens most of you liberals are. Don’t quit your day job for writing comedy anytime soon. And think about growing up one of these days.
By Naust
November 23, 2007 7:10 PM | Link to this
“Well, folks, we had a squeaker in the vote for World’s Worst Book Title ever. But the Supreme Court was called in for an emergency ruling, and by a 5-4 vote they declared George Bush to be the winner.”
Actually, Phil, the Supreme Court decision making Bush the winner was 7-2. The later 5-4 decision was related to how to remedy the situation.
By the way, if that same Supreme Court decision had gone Gore’s way, he would have been the first President whose election was decided by TWO Supreme Courts, not just one. But I’m sure he would never be referred to as “appointed”, as Bush has by people like Phil here who still think it’s 7 years ago.
Move on, Phil (dot-org)
By Don
November 23, 2007 11:08 PM | Link to this
In case no one has told you lately, you’re a moron.
If you need help remembering, just let me know. I’ll be glad to remind you on occasion, especially after dumb ass columns like Wednesday’s.
By GulleyJimson
November 24, 2007 4:03 AM | Link to this
‘Scouting for Boys’ by Robert Baden-Powell
By steve
November 24, 2007 10:08 AM | Link to this
Mr. Kloer:
A) The applicable Supreme Court vote was 7-2.
B)Get over it. Don’t be an angry, bitter liberal your entire life.
By Woodlawn
November 24, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
And the Supreme Court, cooking with poo, gave us a hilarious resident to hoot at for decades! He also helped by driving the Republican party over the cliff.
No one’s bitter.
By CJColucci
November 24, 2007 3:25 PM | Link to this
Titles of legal treatises often sound like how-to’s for doing bad things. Some years ago, I used a lebel-maker to alter some titles in my firm library. One well-regarded book was entitled “Oppression of Minority Shareholders,” to which I added “A Practical Guide.” The author, of course, was very much against oppressing minority shareholders, but you get the idea.
By donatoma
December 6, 2007 3:41 AM | Link to this
not sure if you’ve done this contest already, but there should be awards for “the worst book cover of the year”. book covers are often astonishingly ugly.